asked the Minister for Energy whether, in view of the recent earth tremors in County Wexford, he considers Carnsore Point to be a suitable site for a nuclear power station.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Wexford Earth Tremors.
10.
According to my information Ireland is classified as a region of low seismicity and the barely perceptible tremors recorded recently in County Wexford are not inconsistent with this classification. These tremors were very minor and, indeed, such seismic events have been recorded in Wexford as well as other parts of the country over the past few hundred years. In 1976 the Nuclear Energy Board assessed the ESB's site report and advised that seismicity should not present any significant problem in preparing a safe and stable design for a nuclear power station at Carnsore. The Nuclear Energy Board have advised me that they see no technical reason for varying this assessment.
Would the Minister not agree at the same time, in view of the notorious dangers already existing with nuclear stations, that this is a new danger which should rule out Wexford as a possible site for a nuclear power station? This is simply an added risk to the already long list of dangers.
There are a number of arguments as to why there should not be a nuclear power station at Carnsore. I do not, however, think that this is one of them. It is weakening the case of those who are against the siting of the station there to rely on this argument. There is not a basis for it. The Deputy may be interested to know that the ESB site report, dated October 1974, was considered by the Nuclear Energy Board which, in turn, in September 1976, issued a report, including comments on the ESB report. Copies of both of these reports were sent by the Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy on 8 March 1978 to the Clerk of the Dáil, with the request that they be placed in the Oireachtas Library for the information of Deputies. I do not know if the Deputy is aware of that fact. If he is not, he might like to consult these reports.
A final supplementary from Deputy Quinn.
I accept the point which the Minister has made about there being much more cogent reasons against Carnsore Point nuclear energy station than this particular one. If he has it in the brief attached to his formal reply would he give us a definition of what the NEB describe as an insignificant problem involving seismicity?
The fact of cost.
How insignificant is this and does it have a cost bearing, which I think is the fundamental one, if not the environmental one.
I understand that the normal design of any nuclear power station would involve a design sufficient to withstand shocks much greater than this, even in the normal way. The Nuclear Energy Board have indicated, as I said in my reply to the question, that they do not think this would involve any major problem but they have not, in fact, approved the site. They would require a much more detailed assessment of the specific reactor design to be located at Carnsore before they would approve the site.